Bad Day
by callalilly528
Summary: A song fic to Bad Day by Daniel Powter. Rodney and John meet a mysterious girl off world, who creates romance troubles for McKay and Sheppard. T for things later to come. RodneyxMaraxJohn
1. Where is the Moment?

"Where is the moment when needed the most? You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost. You tell me your blue skies fade to grey, you tell me your passions gone away and I don't need no carrying on."

"Any life signs?" Sheppard asked, not entirely enthusiastic,

"None that I can see, this place is old, there's no one left." McKay replied wanting to go home, he hated these kinds of missions, creepy old abandoned village and no ZPMs.

"Alright, Rodney with me, Teyla, Ronan you go left, check for anything that looks important. We'll meet back her in, an hour." Rodney sighed and followed John on a worn out dirt path through a small burnt down village.

This planet was p5x-3395, a small planet similar to Earth that was found in the ancient data base with the description of "Allie." Shaking his head at the thought Rodney continued walking behind Sheppard. Then a small red dot appeared, faint but there, "Sheppard." Rodney yelled at him, because he had stopped walking when he saw but John kept on going. Jogging back John Sheppard looked at the screen,

"What is it?" he asked looking from the small screen of the life signs detector to his surroundings, McKay rolled his eyes and made a motion for him to follow, sometimes he wish people could keep up with him.

After about five minutes of walking around McKay finally found where the 'person' was, she was sleeping against a burnt hut, her short brown hair fanned out behind her. Sheppard and McKay crept closer; she was stunning, perfect features, and interesting clothing.

The young woman was wearing a torn light pink dress, with multiple scorch marks, rips and tares. Cuts and bruises covered her delicate figure. John and Rodney looked at each other for a moment, whoever this was; she had been through a hell of a lot. Carefully Sheppard touched her shoulder, hoping it was just enough to wake her, instantly she shot up, her eyes wide, face scared.

"Calm down, we're not gonna hurt you, we're friends." John Sheppard tried to soothe her, but Rodney smirked, he loved that line, you would either get a good reaction or get shot.

She relaxed against the hut she was lying by, and stared at them with her big brown eyes.

"My name is Mara." She said matter-of-factly, Rodney and John smiled at her, encouragingly.

"I'm Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, and this is Doctor Rodney McKay." He introduced, but she seemed lost, both literally and figuratively. When she tried to smile back at them it was a sad, tired smile, and her eyes bore some much pain and sadness Rodney wanted to take her in his arms and bring her to Atlantis, wait, he thought desperately, this can't be right, I'm the not the hero, that's always John, I'm always on the sidelines.

McKay sighed and watched as John tried to have a conversation with that young woman, she seemed distant just like Rodney did, not really thinking about what was happening, more about what had already happened.

Rodney kicked at some leaves that had fallen thinking about how he hadn't had the luck with women like Sheppard, it sounded childish but he thought it was about time that he found someone. He shook his head, trying to clear it of the thoughts of all the women Sheppard had dated since they came.

"Come on Rodney," John shouted over at him disturbing his thoughts. He quickly followed, but looked up at the sky for a brief moment, he was about to ask God if he would ever find someone to settle down with, he had always liked the thought of getting married one day. But as he looked up he saw that a storm was coming in. "Sheppard, we'd better get moving, it's about to rain." John looked up and saw that Rodney was right.

"Right, Teyla, Ronan, fall back to the gate." The familiar voice of Teyla answered back with an okay.

Only seconds after John had spoken with Teyla did it start poring,

"Oh this is just great!" shouted Rodney.

"I hate off world adventures, they always turn out like this!" Sheppard shot him a scathing look,

"Stop complaining, we're only a few minutes from the gate, come on."


	2. Falling to Pieces Everytime

"You stand in the line just to hit a new low. You're faking a smile with the coffee to go. You tell me your life's been way off line; you're falling to pieces every time. And I don't need no carrying on."

The five of them finally met at the gate and Rodney dialed the co-ordinates for Atlantis and his IDC. Second later the Stargate erupted with a plume of white mist and receded into a light blue "puddle". Mara looked nervous and Rodney put a comforting hand on her shoulder,

"You'll be alright." He said quietly and she smiled at him, a pure smile, one that was not filled with fear and sadness. This shocked Rodney as he stood there and stared at her as his team mates walked through the gate. Rodney shook his head to clear his thoughts; he gently grabbed her hand and walked with her through the gate to Atlantis.

The gate powered down as Rodney and Mara stepped through. John and Elizabeth were in a heated discussion on protocols and bringing strangers through the gate.

"John, you don't have a clue who she is, she could be a "runner" and the wraith might be coming for her right now!" Ronan grumbled and looked at the girl for a moment or too,

"No, she's not a runner." Was all he said and John smirked and crossed his arms, "Well, that settles that." Elizabeth gave him a death stare and they continued to argue. Rodney sighed,

"Come on, you don't need to hear this." He led Mara past them and through the hallways to his lab where he finally could relax.

Mara looked at every device that was lying around intently. Rodney smiled at her; she looked so cute and delicate gently touching each item on the work table.

"Look I'm going to go and get a coffee, do… do you want anything?" he asked nervously, she turned and looked at him, then smiled.

"No thank you, may I stay here and look?" Rodney smiled back, he couldn't remember a time he had smiled so much in one day, and then he replied

"Sure, I'll be back soon."

McKay walked out of the lab and sighed, shook his head and walked down the long narrow halls towards the mess hall. He was in desperate need of a coffee, McKay thought as he entered the mess hall and got in the lunch line. A sigh escaped him as he thought of Mara and what she meant to him, a crush and heart ache, he thought as he ordered his coffee and tried to smile at the woman who handed the steaming cup over to him.

Surely Sheppard will claim her as his own and Rodney will never see her again, he thought, this always happens. Not only would Sheppard take the women he wanted but it seems like every girl he had ever liked had been taken by some other man for his entire life. Rodney McKay let his thoughts wander to childhood crushes as he walked back to his lab.

He groaned as he found John leaning on the work table and starring up at Mara finishing up one of his heroic tales.

"Doctor McKay!" Mara exclaimed as he walked through the door, she hugged him gently and stood by his side.

"We have lots of work to do right?" she hinted up at him and he got the point, she wanted John to leave which was just fine by him.

"Right, good bye Sheppard." John got the point and walked out of the lab in a huff,

"Thank you Doctor McKay." She sighed and leaned against him; she closed her eyes and let her mind drift for a moment before regaining composure and walking over to the work table.


End file.
